I’ve become very strangely interested in #jeans. Blue is totally not my colour but after wearing an #indigo #hakama I’ve come to appreciate the properties of that natural dye for roughing out. I’d prefer kakishibu jeans to indigo, but they are ridiculously expensive so I’m half considering my very first pair of #Levis. What’s Mastodon’s take?

I wouldn’t want to spend much more than what a pair of 501s cost. Less is good. As deep indigo as possible. No pre-wear. Also, elastane is 100% banned.

One of the benefits of my #indigo #hakama that I use in #aikido is that doesn’t generally start to stink. Apart from the smell of the dye. It’s never really washed. I understand this is a property of indigo and one original reason for it being used in #jeans.

How much is that still true today with modern jeans? And is there something particular about the Japanese #aizome indigo?

#Hakama (袴)
A traditional #Japanese lower body garment.
Early Adopted as an adaptation of a Chinese imperial garment, Kù, 6th Century.

Two types of hakama:
*divided type used in Aikido, umanori
(馬乗り, "horse-riding hakama")
*undivided, andon hakama
(行灯袴, "lantern hakama")

Primarely used in #Aikido as a training #tool; providing sensorial awareness of movement flow & aid in posture (partially forcing wearer to keep #posture, glide their feet, as they move)

After some serious trouble and research, a long pause thinking how bad I am at tying knots, and a lot of YouTube tutorials, I managed to get this done and I am not even sure how bad it is, because a voice inside my head is telling me it’s not right😅🥺
#Hakama, the black long skirt pants we wear in Aikido, and other martial arts, is the symbol of #maturity, #responsibility, #dedication and #humility. It is of course reserved for the higher ranked practitioners (Dan ranks) but in #Algeria, in some Dojos, we still wear it as part of the traditional outfit and also for girls as a modest and honor way to cover up, again not all Dojos do that.
Aaaaaanyways, back to the matter at hand, did you know, that in #Asian and #Japanese culture, before wearing your Hakama for the first time, you absolutely have to fold it!! And you know why? It’s actually a believed that only the dead get to wear unfolded clothes, meaning, when someone dies in Japan, they are dressed in a newly sewn garment that has never been folded before. So, folding the Hakama isn’t “just a tradition”, it’s a symbol of life, continuity and fresh new starts, I believe.
Of course every school ties it in a different way, I am not sure what I did here, but at least the strings aren’t hanging there, I guess I could call it a mini win, a cute win, a me-win 😁😅 so, here I present to you my Kari-hakama-fold 🙆‍♀️😁😅🤣🥺🙆‍♀️

#aikidodz #aikidolife #martialarts
#AïkidoForever #AikidoAlgeria

L'entraînement, #noiretblanc

Tàri et Lily pratiquent l'#aïkido dans un #dojo. Elles sont vêtues d'un #gi (appelé couramment kimono en France) d'entraînement et d'un #hakama (pantalon large japonais porté dans plusieurs arts martiaux). La figure exécutée s'appelle #suwariwaza #nikkyo. Comme c'est Lily qui exécute la technique, Tàri semble en mauvaise posture, mais son épaule est en réalité relâchée et il lui reste une jambe libre qui pourrait bien lui servir si Lily commet une erreur.